


We Are One

by neverthelessthesun



Series: Steve and Tony Make a Porno (Unrelated Stony Fics) [15]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Author Will Likely Add To This Later, Avengers Tower, BAMF Tony Stark, Blow Jobs, Canonical Character Death, Coffee, Confessions, Dating, Fantasizing, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Hand Jobs, Hurt Tony Stark, Identity Porn, Identity Reveal, Injury, Let Tony Be Short 2k19, Lies, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Not Love Yet, Of Like?, Oral Sex, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, Post-Iron Man 3, Pre-Civil War (Marvel), Protective Jarvis, Protective Tony Stark, Secret Identity, Sequel Available, Sexual Fantasy, Smart Steve Rogers, Some Plot, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Steve Rogers' Impressive Rack, Steve Rogers-centric, Steve/Tony/Armor, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Touchy-Feely, Voyeurism, Worried Steve Rogers, not S/T obvs, short tony stark, threesome (kind of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 14:55:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18875467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverthelessthesun/pseuds/neverthelessthesun
Summary: Steve has a crush on his pal and teammate Iron Man. He also has a crush on his best friend and resident genius, Tony Stark. He deals with this by fantasizing about them, but not with him. Witheach other.Shenanigans ensue.





	We Are One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and thanks for clicking! I am proud to present the fifteenth installment of ficlets in this collection.
> 
> This work completely would not exist without the help of my dear friends [riseupwiseupeyesup](https://archiveofourown.org/users/riseupwiseupeyesup/works) and [sadieb798](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadieb798/pseuds/sadieb798/works), who cheer-read and beta-read so well that I basically have no claim on this thing without them. (Any mistakes, of course, are my own.)
> 
> Enjoy!

Steve wasn’t much for speculating about other people’s personal lives. After seventy years of being speculated about, it’s not a surprise he doesn’t like to participate in that sort of thing. But lately, he’s found some interesting exceptions.

Iron Man had always fascinated Steve, of course. The armor was the first thing he drew after waking up. Its sleek curves and flashy power were attractive to him in a way he couldn’t quantify. Plus, Iron Man himself was a good man and a brilliant fighter. The snark merely put Steve over the edge into full-blown crush territory—he’d always had a thing for snarky, brilliant people.

So, if every once in a while, he let his mind wander to what Iron Man’s private life looked like, well. It was partially the crush and partially the intrigue; the possibility of getting a glimpse under all the burnished metal. Anyone would be curious about a man that never showed his body at all, let alone his face. 

Tony Stark was a little harder to explain away. 

Steve had first met Tony on the helicarrier, when he was studying the cube. Their first meeting was…rocky, to say the least. But since the effects of Loki’s scepter were long gone, they’d been cordial and even friendly towards one another. Mr. Stark was a genius, and he naturally had a very busy schedule running his company, as well as fabricating the Avengers gear and doing maintenance for Iron Man. But, even with all that, he made a point to check in with each of them once a week or so, and make sure all their needs were met. He went out of his way to be kind, and that was a trait Steve admired more than anything else. 

It didn’t help that Mr. Stark had the same sense of bold humor as Iron Man, and that he was physically _exactly_ Steve’s type.

So, all in all, Steve figured it was fine to daydream here and there. Both of the men were single, so he wasn’t cutting out their partners. He wasn’t hurting anyone, anyway. Most of his daydreams were pretty tame compared to the things he’d read about them all on the internet. Besides, it wasn’t like he was picturing _himself_ with either of them.

Oh, no. Steve fantasized about Iron Man and Mr. Stark with _each other_. 

Iron Man and Mr. Stark had a similar sense of humor, and imagining them firing their wits at one another was spectacular. Mr. Stark was lean and muscled, shorter than everyone on the team but Natasha, and he had a such a vibrant personality that anyone in the room gravitated toward him. Iron Man was taller, more stoic, but still hilarious, and he was flashy enough just to look at that he didn’t need to hold the room’s attention with his sparkling conversation. 

Together, they would be...beautiful. Steve imagined the innuendo, the smirking from Mr. Stark and the layered silence form Iron Man, akin to a raised eyebrow. He imagined how Mr. Stark’s gaze might soften when he got to see Iron Man’s face, and what the masked man himself might look like. 

The dirtiest his thoughts ever got was imagining them kiss, Mr.Stark’s thigh trapped between Iron Man’s, their tongues mingling. The suit shone in low light, and Mr. Stark sported smudges of grease on his hands from tuning it up. Iron Man brought up one gauntlet to gently move Mr. Stark’s hair out of his eyes, and his ever-shifting imaginary face smiled down at the engineer. 

That was where he made himself stop. With both of them happy together. Just the contrast of Mr. Stark’s lithe form and the bulk of the armor was enough to make him shiver. He didn’t need more than that.

.o0o.

Mr. Stark “Call me Tony,” quickly became counted among Steve’s closest friends in the new century. They watched movies together, under the guise of getting Steve caught up with pop culture, but really so that Tony could “geek out” about all his favorites. They worked on uniform designs together in Tony’s workshop, with Steve providing concept art and Tony fabricating. They got lunch once or twice a week, usually at some out-of-the-way local place Tony magically knew about.

Tony was so charismatic and funny, and he took Steve’s introduction to present-day New York pretty seriously. They spent time at arcades and record stores, so Steve could get a taste of some of the things he’d missed. Tony would drag him from store to store, shoving clothing at him to try, until he found more modern styles that he liked. They went to concerts, conventions, museums, art galleries, and once, memorably, the circus. They giggled at how dumb they looked in the gossip rags the next day, sharing a bag of cotton candy and wearing balloon animal hats. 

Steve was truly enjoying himself. Hanging out with Tony so much did very little to slow his free-fall of attraction to him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. A day being friends with Tony was better than all his daydreams combined, and he couldn’t bear to give it up.

Iron Man was less present, now that the major threat had passed. Steve would occasionally see him make a public appearance at Tony’s side, looking straight and still. Other times, he might wander onto the team floor and chat for a little while, and those were Steve’s favorite times. But he quickly left when the team settled down to play video games or some other group activity. 

“I can’t stay,” he would explain apologetically. “I’m too heavy for the furniture. Besides, I’m technically on the clock.”

Steve spoke to Tony once about Iron Man’s schedule, and asked if he had any free time at all.

“He gets some,” Tony allowed, his mouth a thin line. “But the guy doesn’t have a family. No friends, outside of the team, really. He doesn’t ask for much time off.”

“But surely—”

“Look, Steve,” Tony cut him off, meeting Steve’s eyes with a knowing look. “I know you’re trying to help. Trying to look out for your pal, yeah? I get it, I do. But getting close to Iron Man is…tricky business. Even if I gave him the time, told him not to come in, he’d still be here, working. He’s like that. Doesn’t know when to quit. 

“And really, I can’t blame him. Used to be, there were six people who knew his identity. Now, half the people on that list are dead. He probably wants to stop people from being close to him, to protect them.”

Steve backed off after that. He knew about protecting people close to you, and how it felt when you failed.

.o0o.

Steve’s ignored crushes on Iron Man and Tony grew, despite his best efforts to squash them. He was good friends with Tony, now, and he’d like to be better friends with Iron Man, too. It wasn’t appropriate to be thinking...that...about people he cared about. Especially about his new, completely platonic friends.

Still. He’d wake up in the middle of the night, boxers sticky, with the mental image of Tony and Iron Man still hanging before his eyes. Tony would be crying out in pleasure, and the thick fingers of the gauntlet would be stroking across his bare chest, over his hip bone, ghosting over the bulge in the front of his pants. Steve, ever a passive observer even in his own dreams, would be breathing heavy in the corner. Maybe Tony would glance up and meet his eyes, grinning sharply, and angle his body so Steve had a better view. Maybe Iron Man would cup and the back of Tony’s head, holding him in place with more strength than even Steve had, and lean down to whisper dirty things in his ear. 

Maybe, if Steve stayed asleep long enough, one of them would beckon him into their moment, eyes hooded, and ask if he liked what he saw. Ask if he wanted to watch, or to—to—

Steve usually couldn’t make it to the end of the dream, exploding in his boxers before he even touched either of them.

.o0o.

Steve should have known not to trust the lull they had in bad guy activity. They were overdue for something like this, he thought wryly, shoving his uniform roughly on and jamming his comm unit into his ear. 

“Iron Man, report!”

“Cap,” Steve told himself it was just his imagination that Iron Man sounded so glad to hear him. “Mr. Stark was attacked en route to the airport. He’s fine, but the car is a little…blown up. Three hostiles. Oh, shit—”

“I’m on my way,” Steve assured, rushing to the garage. He ran past the empty spot where Tony’s car had been parked to his motorbike, gassed and ready to go. He straddled it and flew out into the street, dodging traffic like a stunt driver. 

“Got two with laser weapons of some kind, and one in a flying mechanized octopus?” Tony panted in his ear. “It’s the stupidest looking villain I’ve been up against in a while.”

Steve wove through traffic and glimpsed the flying metal octopus through the buildings. He turned towards the fighting and pressed the bike harder. 

“I’ll be there in ninety seconds. Widow is behind me with the jet.”

“Appreciate the backup!” Iron Man hollered, swinging the octopus around by a tentacle. “I think I just might have this one covered, though.”

As Steve arrived on scene, he saw that Iron Man was right. The mechanical Octopus had been crashed onto the street, and the two with laser guns were being held onto by one gauntlet each. Iron Man was threatening them as Steve approached. 

“…One twitch, and this thing’ll blow your vertebrae out of your body. I promise, it’s not a fun way to go.”

“Iron Man!” Steve said, jogging up. “Is Ton—Mr. Stark safe?”

“Sure, he’s fine,” Iron Man assured. “Suit’s a little banged up—those lasers pack a punch! Do me a favor and keep an eye on these two while I check on him?”

Steve nodded, taking over the grip on the two fighter’s necks. He noticed the smaller of the two was only a kid, maybe sixteen. 

“Not a great idea to attack an Avenger, kid,” Steve counseled, setting his tone firmly in that _Captain America_ zone.

The kid only stuck out his chin, his eyes blazing with righteous anger. “Not a great idea to leave one of us unattended,” he snarked. 

“Wha—” Steve started, before remembering. Iron Man had said there was a third assassin, in the octopus thing. “IRON MAN!” he cried out, already turning to warn his teammate.

But it was too late. The third man rose from the debris of his creation, gripping a laser gun in his uninjured hand, and aiming straight for the chest of the suit. 

The blast caught Iron Man below the arc reactor, and he stumbled, clutching at the wound, before falling to his knees. Steve threw the two accomplices to the ground, and his shield was leaving his hand before he could process it, knocking the third unconscious. He ran to Iron Man’s side.

“Iron Man, respond,” he begged. 

“M’here, Cap.”

“Quick, where is Tony? We need to get you out of that thing—”

“No!” Iron Man coughed wetly. “No, I’ll be fine. I just. Need to get back to the tower.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed helplessly. “Okay, where is Tony?”

“S’fine,” Iron Man waved him off, trying to struggle to his feet. “He’ll be fine.”

Natasha and the jet roared into the battlefield behind them, and Steve vaguely heard her order the remaining two villains to place their hands over their heads. “Come on,” he urged, helping Iron Man up. “Come on, onto the jet.”

Iron Man stumbled and was dragged onto the jet, and Steve set him down as carefully as he could manage. “I need to find Tony,” he told Clint, who was already readying the jet for liftoff to bring Iron Man back to the tower. “He’s the only one that knows how to help him.”

“Cap,” Iron Man called. “S’fine. He’s probably already on his way back to the tower. he’ll meet us there.”

“But how will he—”

“Mr. Stark has a second car. He likes to travel with options. He, ah, slipped in and drove off at the beginning of the fight.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed reluctantly. “If you say so.”

.o0o.

When they arrived at the tower, Iron Man disappeared into the lab for over an hour. Steve asked JARVIS to let him in, to let him check on Tony and Iron Man, but all JARVIS would tell him was that they were both safe and that they were not to be disturbed. He sat outside the opaque lab door until finally, Tony opened it.

“Steve,” he said, sounding surprised. He had a cut above his eyebrow and a bandage wrapped around his upper abdomen.

“Tony.” Steve breathed a sigh of relief. “Is Iron Man going to be okay?”

“Iron Man?” Tony asked, and Steve realized his eyes were unfocused. “Yes, he’s alright.”

“Tony, are _you_ okay? Iron Man said you were fine, but you were clearly injured. Did you lose blood?”

“I’m right as rain, worrywart,” Tony assured fondly, but his balance was uneven. “I gave myself a transfusion. Didn’t even need DUM-E’s help. I just need a little rest and I’ll be back to normal.”

Steve caught Tony before he listed into the wall. “Let me help you to your room before I check on Iron Man.”

“Iron Man, he’s fine!” Tony insisted. “I’m fine! Everyone is fine, Steve.”

Steve shook his head. “I like to make sure my people are safe for myself. Here, let me…”

With some help from JARVIS, Steve managed to get Tony into his penthouse and into bed. Tony huffed when Steve moved him to get the blankets out from under where he had landed, but settled right away when Steve tucked him in. 

“Not a child,” Tony protested half-heartedly. But he was already relaxing under the covers, sighing sweetly and letting his eyes flutter closed. “G’night, Steve.”

“Sleep well,” he murmured softly before making his way back down to the lab. 

“JARVIS, is Iron Man still in the lab?”

“…He is,” the AI allowed. “But he is not taking visitors.”

“I need to make sure he is okay. Is there any way I can talk to him? He was hurt pretty badly.”

A pause, then JARVIS replied. “He has agreed to take your call. Shall I connect you?”

“Yes, please.”

The phone rang once, twice, three times, then finally a labored voice answered. “H’lo.”

“Iron Man. This is Steve—Captain America. I wanted to check up on you, but Jarvis said you’re unavailable right now.” Steve tried not to let the concern overtake his voice. 

“M’fine,” Iron Man slurred, sounding so much like Tony just had, it made Steve grin. “Got hit in the stomach a lil bit. M’ out of the suit, got patched up.”

Suddenly it made sense why Iron Man didn’t want to see Steve. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pressure you,” he apologized. “I just wanted to be sure you were alright. I didn’t see you after you went into the lab, and I was just worried.”

“Don’ hafta worry about me, big guy,” Iron Man mumbled. “M’ gonna sleep now, kay?”

“Okay. Let me or one of the team know if you need anything. We don’t want to push your boundaries, but you’re one of us, and when one of us is down, we all feel it. I—we want to help.”

“Kay. Night.”

Steve listened as Iron Man hung up, wondering if he was maybe pushing too hard anyway, despite his best efforts. “Thanks, JARVIS.”

A thought occurred to him as he made his way back to his room. Iron Man had said Tony had taken two cars to the airport, because he liked to travel with options. But Steve had rushed through the garage to his bike, when he was on his way to the battle. He’d seen which cars were there and which ones weren’t. And the only car that had been missing from Tony’s impressive lineup was the one whose burned-out husk was probably still smoking out on the street. 

Tony hadn’t taken two cars. Iron Man had lied. 

So then how did Tony get home so fast? He’d already been in the lab when they had arrived, because they’d brought Iron Man to the only entrance to the lab, other than Iron Man’s landing pad. There was no way he could have run that distance home in time to beat them, especially with the injuries he was sporting. And Steve had stood guard outside that very same entrance from the time he dropped off Iron Man until Tony had stumbled out.

Steve turned this over and over in his mind. It was impossible. Tony was in the car when the laser guns first shot at him, and so was Iron Man. Iron Man had stayed, finished the battle, gotten hurt. Tony hadn’t been there when Steve got there, and it had been maybe five or ten minutes since the start of it all. Later, Iron Man went into the lab, and an hour after that, Tony came out. 

But how had he gotten from the scene of the attack back home, with no transportation and no Iron Man?

Something niggled in the back of his mind, something he’d thought about before but ignored at the time. Something about how Iron Man acted when he was around Tony. Admittedly, Steve so rarely saw the two of them together. 

They always seemed to miss each other around the team, and neither one of them hung around much. When they were together, like for an event where Tony needed visible security, Steve usually only witnessed it from afar, or through a television screen. Still, those few times he’d been with both of them at an event, or a press conference, he remembered how Iron Man had seemed…off. 

His replies were more stilted, didn’t always match the conversation quite right. He was quieter, less involved in whatever was going on. Steve had always assumed that this was because he was focused on protecting his boss, and surveying for threats. But there was another thing that was different, about the way Iron Man moved around Tony. His stance and gait were more robotic, more precise. Almost like…

Almost like he was empty. 

Steve stared blankly at nothing. Iron Man was empty around Tony. Iron Man wasn’t ever with Tony, that he could remember. Iron Man hadn’t seemed worried about Tony, hadn’t even bothered to check that he got away. Iron Man lied about Tony having a car. 

“Tony _is_ Iron Man,” he breathed, hardly believing it even as the pieces all fell into place. 

“Captain Rogers,” JARVIS called sharply, breaking Steve from his reverie. “You have been found to be in possession of Class Saturn Intelligence. Please remain where you are.” 

“JARVIS? What—”

“Please remain where you are,” JARVIS insisted, sounding apologetic. “Miss Potts will be here shortly to triage and do threat assessment.”

“Threat assessment! What on earth—”

But no matter how Steve pried, JARVIS would not say anything else. The door to his suite was locked, as were all the other doors, so finally Steve slumped against the hallway wall, cowl in his hands. 

“Oh, no,” Pepper moaned as she entered the hall fifteen minutes later. “I _told_ him this would happen, but he’s so paranoid. Steve, are you all right?”

Steve glanced up at Pepper. “I must have done something wrong. I wasn’t supposed to know, about Tony. Being Iron Man.”

She smiled sadly. “No, no you weren’t. He doesn’t like people to know.” She crouched beside him and slipped her heels off, joining him on the floor. “He’s convinced it’s dangerous for the people close to him if they know.”

“Why did he have JARVIS lock everything down? I thought—I thought we were…that he trusted me.”

“He _does_ trust you, Steve. Saturn Intelligence is risky stuff, though. If someone found out, any old SI employee, or a passerby, and they weren’t thoroughly warned of the consequences of telling others about this information, well. It could be dangerous. So Tony built Saturn into JARVIS’ framework, so that anyone, regardless of how trusted they are, would be locked down until someone could explain it to them.”

Steve nodded numbly. “So you’re here to assess me.”

“No, Steve,” Pepper soothed. “You don’t need to be assessed. I think you’ve shown that your character isn’t one to turn in gossip about Tony Stark to the tabloids. I have ruled that you are a safe addition to the Saturn Protocol.”

As soon as she spoke, JARVIS audibly unlocked the doors around them. “My sincere apologies, Captain Rogers,” he intoned. “I am still only a program. I must do what my program states.”

“I understand, JARVIS. You were only protecting Tony. He’s lucky to have you. Lucky to have…” Steve was about to say Iron Man, but he remembered again. “To have you, too, Miss Potts.”

“I’ve told you before, it’s Pepper,” she corrected, smiling. “Come on, Tony won’t sleep for long.”

“Who else knows?” Steve asked as he stood, offering a hand to Pepper. 

“Myself and Rhodey, of course.” Colonel Rhodes, Steve’s mind supplied. They’d met twice, and he was introduced as Tony’s best friend. “Director Fury. And now, you.”

Steve swallowed thickly. “Tony said—there had once been six people who knew.”

“Yes,” Pepper admitted stiffly. “But that’s not really my story to tell.”

“One of them was Coulson,” Steve intuited. 

“Yes.”

“Jesus.” He let out a breath. “No wonder Iron Man—Tony—is so gun-shy about it.”

Pepper smiled sadly again. “That’s not even the half of it.”

.o0o.

It took some wheedling from both Pepper and Steve to get JARVIS to agree not to tell Tony what Steve knew when he woke up. Fortunately, JARVIS seemed inclined to believe that they had Tony’s best interest at heart, and despite his adage that he was only a program, he really did have a heart of gold.

Steve didn’t manage to catch Tony before he returned to his lab the next day, but he did secure a promise via text that he could join him for lunch. He showed up at noon on the dot, carrying a tray full of Chinese food and a mug of steaming coffee. 

“Steve!” Tony greeted from across the guts of the armor. He was clearly in the midst of repairs, his forehead streaked with sweat and motor oil. “I thought we weren’t meeting until lunch time.”

Steve set his parcel down on the couch, the only clean space in the room. “It _is_ lunch time,” he said. “And I brought you coffee.”

“Coffee, oh thank god.” Tony stole the mug out of Steve’s hands, tilting it back to swallow half of it in one go.

Steve took the few seconds that Tony was distracted to look him over. His stomach was still wrapped under his shirt, but he was carrying himself more confidently than yesterday, so Steve thought it might be only a flesh wound. His reactor shone bright and undamaged from his chest, and Steve wondered if it was the same one that powered the suit. He hoped not—Tony shouldn’t be powering that advanced tech with the same thing that kept him alive. 

“Can I check—” Steve asked, but before he could finish the thought aloud, his hands were already coming up to peel Tony’s tank top out of the way and feel at Tony’s bandages lightly. He brushed a palm across the gauze, feeling the heat from the wound, noticing that it wasn’t bleeding through. Tony’s skin was peppered with goosebumps—was he cold?—but otherwise he was clean, uninjured, and standing tall.

“Go right ahead?” Tony agreed, sounding confused. “I told you yesterday I was just fine. You worry too much.”

Steve shrugged, dropping Tony’s shirt and raising a hand to thumb at the edge of the cut above his face. “You were hurt,” he explained, meeting Tony’s eyes. He noticed they were slightly dilated, like Tony had been in a dark room. “I wasn’t sure if you had any broken bones, or if you had a concussion.”

Tony stared up at him for a moment before responding. “Just a mild one. I made JARVIS wake me up every couple hours, make sure I wasn’t going to die.” He startled, seemed to notice how close they were standing, and took a measured step back.

“Say, did you bring beef and broccoli?” he asked, turning towards the food.

They sat and ate on the ratty couch, Tony gesturing with his chopsticks as he chatted about the armor repairs. Steve stayed quiet, but he listened calmly, making sure to nod along and ask questions when Tony paused. It was the same as it had always been—Steve didn’t feel awkward now that he knew the truth.

Well. Except about things he won’t mention.

“Tony,” Steve finally cut him off, once they had eaten. “I wanted to...let you know, I guess. That I’ve figured it out.”

“Figured what out, big guy?” Tony said, dumping the dregs of his Chinese directly into his mouth. 

“Well, I was thinking, last night. About how fast you got home from the attack.”

“Nothing special about that, Cap,” Tony chuckled brightly, but it was fake. “I had an extra car. Sometimes the Audi just doesn’t feel right, you know? So I switch to the Jag. It’s a side effect of being a spoiled rich boy.”

“Sure,” Steve agreed readily. “Only, I saw the Jag in the garage right before I rushed out to help with the fight.”

Tony stilled. It wouldn’t have been so worrying if Tony wasn’t always moving, but being frozen like that was a clear red flag. 

“Steve, I don’t think—”

“I know what I saw,” Steve said calmly, diplomatically. “Eidetic memory, remember? Besides. The blast pattern didn’t show any sign of a second vehicle close by.”

“Steve,” Tony pleaded. His voice sounded desperate. “Please don’t question this.”

“It’s fine, Tony,” Steve assured. “It’s okay, I’m not mad.”

Tony huffed, shoving his Chinese food carton aside and getting up to pace the length of the room. “You would be. The things I haven’t told you, that I know you would think you need to know. But, God, Steve, I just can’t. Not again.”

“I understand,” Steve murmured, getting up to follow Tony.

“You don’t! Because I am a liar, Steve! I’m a _liar_ , and I can’t even feel bad about it, because it keeps you _safe_. No one can know, or it will be bad. I can’t—I can’t do that to anyone, even if I trust them. Even if I trust _you._ ”

“Shh, Tony,” Steve hushed, his arms coming up to catch the engineer on his next pass. “It’s okay. I forgive you.”

“You don’t even know what you’re saying,” Tony insisted, but his body curled unconsciously closer to Steve’s.

“I know. Tony, I figured it out. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

Tony paled. “Steve.”

“You _are_ Iron Man.”

Tony was shaking, his knees almost buckling. Steve caught him, and brought him back to the couch. “I’ve doomed you,” Tony was murmuring under his breath, again and again. “I’ve doomed you.”

“No, Tony,” Steve insisted, running his palms up and down Tony’s arms in an attempt to warm him. “I’m not doomed. I’m safe. We’re both safe.”

“But they _died_ ,” Tony said, eyes blank. “Yinsen died, and Coulson died. Pepper almost died. Obie tried to kill me. And I know, I _know_ you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t do that. But they all got hurt, because of me.”

Steve pulled Tony into a hug. “Shh, it’s okay,” he crooned. “Tony. Those deaths weren’t your fault.”

“Yinsen—”

“He was the man who helped you escape the Ten Rings, right?” Tony nodded somberly. “He helped you of his own free will. It was his choice, Tony. He was a brave man. But his death wasn’t your fault—it was the fault of those terrorists. Just like Coulson’s death was the fault of Loki, and Pepper getting hurt was the fault of the Mandarin.”

“But I was the reason—”

“From what I read about Stane,” Steve cut him off, “he was a cruel and evil man. He was selling weapons to the other side, and he tried to kill you multiple times. I can’t say I’m sorry he’s dead.”

Tony gave a weak laugh. “Never thought I’d hear Captain America ready to dance on someone’s grave.”

“This isn’t Captain America,” Steve corrected. “This is Steve Rogers. I care about you, Tony. Of course I’m glad he’s dead.”

They were still sitting so close, Tony practically on Steve’s lap, their heads close together. Steve thought maybe he could lean in and press a kiss to Tony’s forehead. He tried not to remember how he’d imagined this exact scenario, but with Iron Man in his place. He had to stifle a laugh, then. 

What an idiot he’d been, picturing Tony with _himself_. 

“What’s so funny?” Tony asked.

“Nothing,” Steve hurried to assure him. “Just—I was thinking about all those times I saw you and Iron Man together. Thinking how—glad I was, that you two had each other. Him to look after your safety, and you to look after his secrets. But really, all this time, you’ve been doing it alone.”

That was a sobering thought. Tony had been alone, all this time. How isolating it must be—to keep a secret identity—to feel trapped like that even around his own team. 

“I’m not going to leave you alone again,” Steve promised. “You won’t have to carry this by yourself.”

“It’s not safe to be close to me, Steve,” Tony warned. “You’ll get hurt.”

“I’m already close to you,” Steve disagreed softly. Tony’s eyes looked so bright, up close like this. “I can’t help it. You pull me in. I’m so—” Steve cut himself off. “You’re the person I’m closest to.”

Tony held his gaze, wondrous. “Steve,” he began, stopped, then started again. “Steve, are you—”

“Yeah,” Steve admitted shakily, his heart ready to pound out of his chest. “I’m pretty gone on you.”

Tony reached up to brace a hand on his shoulder, refusing to let Steve turn away in shame. “Iron Man? Or, or me? Tony Stark?”

“They’re both you,” Steve evaded.

“Sure, but which—which one are you, ah. Gone on?”

Steve shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “Um, both of you? I mean, both. Tony, and Iron Man.”

“Huh,” Tony let out, surprised. “Really? You had a crush on the mad genius benefactor, and the faceless robot dude? You got weird taste.”

Steve could feel his face heating, and saw Tony’s gaze follow the flush across his skin. “You don’t have to make fun of me. I didn’t know Iron Man was you.”

“No, no! Not making fun of you,” Tony corrected, and the hand on Steve’s shoulder slipped to curve around his neck. “You see, I'm pretty gone on you too.”

“Me?” Steve gasped, feeling Tony’s fingers play with the short hairs on the back of his neck.

“You,” Tony breathed, and, wow, suddenly Steve could taste Tony’s breath, and when did they get so much closer? And then they were kissing, Tony’s expert tongue leaving teasing licks along the seam of Steve’s lips until he opened them with a sigh. 

They parted, both breathing hard. Steve’s hands had made their way around Tony’s waist, careful not to pull on the bandages. Tony’s hands were buried in his hair, stroking and catching in a way that made shivers run down his spine. Their lips were wet.

“Tony,” Steve moaned like a prayer. 

“Let’s agree to do that again. A lot.”

“Yes.”

.o0o.

It was over a week later, after Tony and Steve had told the team about their new relationship, and after having their first two dates, that they finally had sex.

They were on their way back to the Avengers floors in the tower, holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes like they were a cliche. 

Tony smiled softly, his private smile that only Steve got to see, and asked, “Want to come up to the penthouse with me?”

Steve assured him, both verbally and with a firm kiss, that he would like nothing better. 

The penthouse was warm and dark, and Tony’s bed was huge. Steve took his time getting Tony undressed, pressing kisses to every inch of skin as he uncovered it. 

“Beautiful,” he mouthed into the dip below Tony’s hip bone. 

The wound from the attack was nearly healed, and Steve skated around it with light fingertips, checking Tony’s face for signs of pain or discomfort. Finding none, he ushered them to the bed and let Tony have a turn undressing him. 

“I must have done something fucking _amazing_ in a past life,” Tony murmured, staring at the swell of Steve’s pecs. “You’re incredible.”

“You,” Steve started to argue, but then Tony’s tongue swept across one of his nipples, and talking was suddenly too much.

Tony tortured him with his mouth and clever hands, thumbing at one nipple while nipping and sucking at the other. Steve had never known he was sensitive there, but Tony was relentless, and Steve couldn’t help but squirm under his attentions. He was whining aloud when Tony pulled off and whispered in his ear, “Tell me what you fantasized. I know you imagined this, Steve. Tell me.”

“Not this,” Steve gasped. “God, it was never this good.”

Tony grinned smugly from above, running teasing palms over Steve’s flanks and watching how they shivered. “I want to hear, anyway. How did you picture me? Or, better yet, how did you picture your old pal Iron Man?” He slipped his fingertips below Steve’s boxers, tugging at the elastic. “Did you think he’d fuck you in the armor?”

“Oh, Tony,” Steve moaned. “I can’t focus.”

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because Tony leaned back on his heels, looming over Steve and pulling those teasing touches away. 

“I’m serious, big guy,” Tony leered. He was in his element, a teasing smile on his face, and his tan skin on display. “I wanna hear about your dirty day-dreams. Call me curious.”

Steve took a deep breath to steady himself. “It’s...a little weird.”

Tony’s smile grew wider. “Captain America’s kinky. Who knew?”

“Tony.”

“Okay, fine. _Steve Rogers_ is kinky. I can totally get behind that. Now, spill.”

Steve sighed, fighting the urge to bring a hand up to his face to hide behind. “It wasn’t...like that. I imagined—you, yes, I imagined—but not with me.”

Tony’s eyebrow raised. “With who?”

“I pictured you with—with Iron Man.”

Tony stifled a laugh, and Steve glared. “Sorry, not laughing at you,” he reassured, and petted at Steve’s hip. “Just surprised. You fantasized about _me_ , Tony Stark, getting it on with Iron Man?”

“Not, not _getting it on_ , just,” Steve stumbled over his words. “I saw how alike you were. In hindsight, I was so blind. But I thought, maybe, you might make each other happy. That’s all I thought about. I just wanted you to be happy.”

“Uh huh,” Tony cocked his head, disbelieving. “If that was all it was, you wouldn’t be embarrassed.”

“I pictured you, um, kissing,” Steve admitted.

“You pictured me kissing the armor.”

“No! I pictured you kissing the man inside the armor. Which, of course, is stupid.”

Tony’s eyes softened. “It’s not stupid, darling. Your fantasies are yours, and they’re not up for judgement. Not with me. Besides, kissing myself has definitely crossed my mind in the past.” He winked salaciously. “I’d be willing to give it a try.”

Steve’s ears burned, and he couldn’t help but picture Tony kissing another Tony. Two Tonys, he thought hazily.

“See, that was good,” Tony encouraged. “We agreed on something. It was hot. Now, I know that’s not all.”

“I would have these dreams,” Steve murmured, barely above a whisper. “They weren’t conscious, I swear. I’d never—never.”

“Shh, it’s okay, Steve,” Tony soothed, and his weight shifted so his ass was in contact with Steve’s upper thighs, so tantalizingly close to where he wanted. “No judgement. Please tell me.”

“I would dream. About you, and, and Iron Man. You’d be kissing, shirtless, and he would be in the armor with the helmet off. I didn’t know what his face looked like, it changed. But he would be touching you. With the gauntlet. And, you’d look over, and see I was watching, and smile like you were putting on a show for me. You’d let him hold you down, let me watch, and—I always woke up before it got much farther.”

Tony’s eyes were blown black when Steve met his gaze. “Jesus Christ, Steve,” Tony murmured. “You’re perfect. That was amazing, sweetheart, just perfect.”

With that announcement, Tony fell on him again, his hands suddenly everywhere and his mouth leaving wet, sucking kisses across Steve’s abdomen. Steve couldn’t help but buck under the sudden attention, his heart beating faster and his breath coming shorter. 

“Tony,” he managed. He felt like a live wire.

“Yes, yes, I’ll help you. Shh,” he promised, pulling Steve’s boxers down and away. His tongue traced the fine hairs that ran from Steve’s navel to the base of his cock, and Steve realized he was holding his breath in an effort not to cry out. 

“Want to hear you, my darling,” Tony asked, before swiping his tongue up Steve’s shaft and swallowing him down. He bobbed once, twice, six times, and then Steve was coming helplessly down his throat. 

Tony sat up and wiped his mouth, looking both awed and proud. “You taste amazing,” he confided, moving up to press a kiss to the corner of Steve’s mouth. Steve caught him and kissed him fully, tasting his own release, and it only made him hotter. 

“Let me,” Steve asked, moving a hand down to grasp at Tony’s cock and pump it firmly. Tony groaned, thrusting into the curl of Steve’s hand like it was the best thing he’d ever felt. 

“M’close,” he whimpered, soon after. “Steve, god, you—ah! You’re so good at that.”

Steve kept pumping, speeding up and tightening his grip until Tony was whining high in the back of his throat. He came, spurting warm all over Steve’s hand and stomach. 

“Amazing,” Tony murmured, collapsing into the mess he’d left on Steve. “We’ll get cleaned up in a minute.”

Steve wrapped his arm around Tony’s back, holding him close. He breathed deeply, the smell of sex still heavy in the air. 

“I’m gonna reprogram one of the suits,” Tony mumbled into his shoulder. Steve thought he might be talking shop for a moment, but then Tony continued. “Gonna find a way to get it to hold me down. Put on a show for you, like you said.”

“Oh, _Tony_ ,” Steve moaned, and if he hadn’t just come like a freight train, he would have been rock hard. “It doesn’t bother you?”

“That you’ve got the hots for my invention? _Hell_ no. It just means now I get to spend even more time in the lab, thinking of you. And making ridiculous high tech sex toys.” He shifted until they could look into each other’s eyes. “Would you like that?”

“Tony,” Steve murmured, awestruck. “You’re perfect. I don’t need anything more than you. You are far better than anything I could have hoped for.”

Tony grinned. “But you still want the Sexy Armor, though, right?”

“Is that what you’re going to call it?”

“What, got a problem?”

“They’re all sexy,” Steve mumbled, ducking to press a kiss to Tony’s hair.

“Hell yes. This is going to be so much _fun._ ”

.o0o.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are my lifeblood. Feeeed meee seymour
> 
> I am likely to write another chapter of this at some point, with full Stony/Armor action. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts before I get started on that, though ;)
> 
> I got back on [Tumblr](https://nvrthlessthsun.tumblr.com/) because I have no impulse control so follow me or w/e.
> 
> Update 08/03/2019: [Now with sequel available!!!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20099035)


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